LOS ANGELES – Counting his participation in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Badou Jack has fought in eight nations, stretching from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and now back to Los Angeles for his Saturday night WBC cruiserweight title defense.
That event, a rematch on PPV.COM and Prime Video pay-per-view versus former titleholder Noel Mikaelian at a 1,500-seat sound stage known as Ace Mission Studios, comes after Jack has fought on cards headlined by his former promoter Floyd Mayweather Jnr, along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Gervonta Davis, Jake Paul and Logan Paul.
Those varied experiences by Jack, now 42, qualify him as boxing’s truest globetrotter, a three-division champion willing to do his thing whether it’s on the second-most viewed pay-per-view of all time (as the 2017 Mayweather-Conor McGregor card was) or this show.
“I’m international. Traveling is no problem,” Jack said with a smile earlier this week, having been summoned from his home in Dubai to a black-brick gym building tucked next to L.A. freeway lanes where big-rigs roared by. “It’s all about believing in yourself even when people write you off and don’t believe in you. You’ve got to believe in yourself. That’s all that matters.
“I’ve experienced everything in boxing. This is nothing new to me. I’m excited to be back in the States and make a statement.”
Jack’s ideal statement would be to proclaim a more convincing victory over Armenia’s Mikaelian, 27-3 (12 KOs), following Jack’s 115-113, 114-114, 115-113 triumph in May on the Alvarez-William Scull card in Saudi Arabia.
“I want to win more clearly,” Jack said. ‘The first fight was too close. I’m levels above him. It’s not supposed to be so close.”
Besides the fight, Jack’s extended run in the sport as a three-division champion (he was a secondary WBA light heavyweight titlist) pressing to go out as an undisputed cruiserweight champion with the likes of Jai Opetaia, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and David Benavidez before him is also something to behold.
“You’ve got a guy who loves what he does, who’s dedicated his life to religion/family and the sport of boxing,” Jack’s veteran trainer Johnathon Banks said. “He’s extremely dedicated. … I think any diehard fan would appreciate Badou Jack.”
A week after Cuba’s 42-year-old WBA middleweight titlist Erislandy Lara successfully defended his belt, and five months after record eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao, 46, fought welterweight belt holder Mario Barrios to a draw, Jack embodies the effects of clean living in an era where medical monitoring and advanced nutritional knowledge can extend athletic careers in ways beyond what George Foreman’s grill accomplished for him.
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Jack, 29-3-3 (17 KOs), fought for his father’s West African nation of Gambia in the Olympics and defeated the likes of Anthony Dirrell, George Groves, Lucian Bute and James DeGale as super middleweight titleholder before fighting mighty light heavyweight titlist Adonis Stevenson to a draw and then discovering opponent Jean Pascal joined Bute as a second foe to fight him under the influence of PEDs.
In 2023, Jack scored a 12th-round TKO of cruiserweight belt holder Junior Makabu to seize that belt.
Wearing a belt at a post-40 age “doesn’t happen that often in boxing, but with all of the technology, the fresh food and juices, the new medicine that they didn’t have back when George Foreman did it, you’ve got companies now delivering food for straight, clean eating – it digests so easy you don’t even gain a pound,” Banks said.
“The technology allows us to search what’s in our food and tap into our DNA to see what works best for our body.”
A beneficiary of that advanced knowledge, Jack – who has 232 rounds of pro experience under his belt – is a marvel in the eyes of his trainer.
“He’s one of those guys you’re not sure you want to fight, because you’re not sure if you’re going to make it out safe or not,” Banks said. “Nobody’s running up to his door.”
Mikaelian, 35, made his case, blaming the judges for his prior loss.
“I’ll get a fair shake. Last time, I won eight rounds and everybody knows that,” said Mikaelian, wearing a Dodgers cap for good measure. “The judges [in the May bout] are not watching fights. They are following orders. Everybody else had me winning – all the presidents of the sanctioning bodies, [promoter] Frank Warren, [Julio Cesar] Chavez Snr, even the commentators, the fans, the German press.
“If you know boxing, watch the fight and see. It’s unfortunate, but now we have a second chance. I’m going to win convincingly and get the belt back.”
Jack grinned slightly at Mikaelian’s prediction, countering that he’s 5-0 as a cruiserweight, with three knockouts/stoppages.
“Good luck with that. That’s what I’m coming for,” Jack said.
“I don’t have to cut all the water and weight and be weak. Mikaelian might be bigger than me, but he’s not stronger than me. He’s not a better fighter than me. Some people cut a lot of weight. That’s not good for the body.”
Banks assesses that Mikaelian has been talked up by others about how he actually fared in May, encouraging anyone to replay the championship rounds and observe Mikaelian’s withering body language.
“I believe he feels that [he won] now, but he didn’t feel that way the night he lost,” Banks said. “Look at his face. He didn’t feel this way. The 11th and 12th rounds – that’s your true self. How did he feel during that adversity? We have to fight for our livelihood in those rounds. Looking at this fight over and over, he showed who he was.
“He didn’t feel he won that fight. The 12th round was his least active round. Other people told him what they feel, but he didn’t feel he won, and all those people telling him he’ll win, they don’t have to fight Badou. They don’t have to get up off that stool after eight rounds and say, ‘Oh, man, I’ve got to get through four more rounds of this?’”
That’s why Banks believes he’s coaching the right man for the job Saturday night, a veteran who has traveled so far, experienced so much and still wants to press on to finish his lengthy story on his terms.
“What I tell everybody in boxing, the ring is where the truth emerges,” Banks said. “Everything else around it is bullshit. The truth is told in the ring.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
